From Hogwarts With Love
by MuggleBorn92
Summary: During his time at Hogwarts, David Reed wants to know more about the history between Wizards and Muggles. Being from a Muggle family, he also thinks about the future of both worlds. He comes up with a radical new theory...
1. Arrival

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 1: Arrival**

 _Hi Mum, hi Dad,_

 _Wow! There is no better word to describe this school. It's simply magical! The ride in the Hogwarts Express alone was fantastic. Alex and I have already met two fellow students: Jared Fawcett and Catherine Macmillan. Both are from entirely magical families and live in Devon. It seems a lot of wizarding families are living there, perhaps because the population is rather small there._

 _At noon you can buy magical sweets on the train. The journey lasts until evening and the landscape becomes more mountainous. If I had to guess, I'd say we're somewhere in Scotland. But no one knows where Hogwarts is located exactly. It can't be put on any map in relation to other locations._

 _When we arrived, Hagrid, the game keeper welcomed us first years. He is an incredibly tall man. As is tradition, the first years travel by boat over the Great Lake allowing them to see Hogwarts for the first time in all its glory. It's gorgeous!_

 _We were let into the Great Hall by Professor Flitwick, were everyone eats their meals and where feats are celebrated. There are four long house tables along with one for the teachers. A thousand candles are floating at the ceiling which itself shows the sky and weather above._

 _As Professor Flitwick has already told us when he visited us, there are four houses named after the founders of Hogwarts. The Sorting Ceremony assigns the students to their houses using a speaking hat. He seems to be looking inside us and, judging by our traits, sorts us into the house whch promotes these qualities. Alex and I were both sorted into Ravenclaw, the house which is characterised by wit, intelligence, wisdom and creativity._

 _Yet I am not entirely sure whether this is fully true with me. When I was sorted, the hat seemed to speaking inside my mind. He felt a great power inside me, he said, incredible potential and that I should be careful of what to do with it. He almost seemed to be in awe. I had the potential to become a great leader. Maybe Sytherin would fit me. It took about five minutes before he made his decision. I don't know what this means exactly since I have heard mostly negative things about Slytherin House. But perhaps this is simply superstition. I mean, just because that house happened to have produced a number of so-called "dark wizards" doesn't mean that I am dark or "evil" as well, does it?_

 _I think I will ask Professor Flitwick about that. He is head of my house and seems to be sympathetic and understanding._

 _Each house has its own common room. Ours is in one of the towers. The entrance is guarded by a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle who tells a riddle that you have to answer in order to enter. The common room itself is large and in colours of bronze and blue. The view must be awesome at daytime._

 _Tomorrow we'll start with the lessons, I am so excited!_

 _I hope that you are well. Please say hi so grandma for me and give Ellie a cuddle. I wish I could turn into a cat. Perhaps we can learn that here..._

 _Love, David_

 _1 September 2008_

 **Hi guys! In writing this small story I want to shed some light into David's past and character during his time at Hogwarts. My main story is still "A Child of Two Worlds" but every now and then I will update this story.**


	2. Wit beyond Measure

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 2:** **Wit beyond Measure is Man's Greatest Treasure**

How fast time flew! For two months David was already at Hogwarts. Castles had always fascinated him. The suits of armour, the moving portraits, the Great Hall or the library. David especially enjoyed being here with all those books on themes he had never heard about.

And then all the ghosts living inside the castle. Was this the fate that came when dying? Stay in this world as an echo of what you once were? Or was there something more? David hadn't dared until now to ever ask a ghost out of the fear that he was being rude should he do so.

The subjects that they had were truly interesting: transfiguration was what David interested the most. Even though they were starting small by trying to turn matches into needles didn't make it less exciting. And David did feel a great amount of excitement when he managed to do the spell with great effect – the only one in his class.

Potions too was quite intriguing. Professor Slughorn was an older gentleman who had quite a belly and a silver walrus-like moustache. He seemed to be very friendly and praise David when his Cure for Boils gave the best results. David blushed slightly. He had never guessed he would be one of the best students right on his first day.

And not everyone was pleased about that fact as he found out on that very same days straight after this lesson: when they came out of the classroom, Marcus Nott, a classmate from Slytherin hissed to him: "You just wait, you little Mudblood kid, you'll find your place soon enough."

David stared after him, confused. Mudblood? What was that? Some sort of lame wizarding insult?

He looked at Alex and Jared who were both seemingly angry at Marcus's choice of words.

"How can he say something like that? I thought they forbade these expressions after the defeat of Voldemort?" said Jared.

"What does Mudblood mean?" David asked while they were going up the steps into the entrance hall and made for the greenhouses.

"Well," Alex explained, "there are some...groups of wizards who think that all-magical families are something like a...pure family, you know. In the last century, there was much Anti-Muggle sentiment in Europe. In some countries it still exists today."

"Isn't your family well known in Germany?" Jared wanted to know from Alex, "I have read the name Brandt a few times in books about...Pureblood families in Europe."

"We are one of 35 still existing all-magical families in the German-speaking regions," Alex said, "but we don't believe in Pureblood superiority. Not for a long time."

Herbology quickly became Alex's favourite subject while they were dealing with such things as Bouncing Bulbs and Puffapods. Professor Longbottom was a veteran of the Second British Wizarding War and showed them one of the special coins the members of Dumbledore's Army had used for communication during that time. After the war, he had been an Auror for a short while. David had already seen him at the Leaky Cauldron where Professor Longbottom lived with his wife Hannah who was the landlady.

The three of them had worked together with Catherine Macmillan, who they had met on the Hogwarts Express and who had been sorted into Hufflepuff.

* * *

On this November morning David entered the Great Hall together with Alex and Jared.

"What do you think we'll do in History of Magic today?" Jared asked while they were sitting down.

If you wanted to believe the older students, History of Magic did have an astonishing change in the last 11 years. For decades it had been taught by the ghost of a stone-old Professor, Cuthbert Binns whose class had always been a good time for a nap...

After Professor McGonagall had become headmistress, she had immediately sacked Binns and begun the search for a living Professor. But as Binns had actually made the last few generations of students to despise History of Magic, no British professor could be found to hire as a successor. At last, she had found a well-known American historian, Professor Albert Wilkinson, who was willing to come to Britain in order to teach the subject.

"Didn't he say that he wanted to tell us about pre-colonial Native-American wizarding cultures as soon as we were finished with antiquity?" Alex wondered.

A rustle filled the air and hundreds of owls flew into the hall looking for their owners. David recognised his owl Esther right away and she landed on his shoulders, exhausted, with a letter around her leg.

David reached out with his right hand and via a movement with his fingers, loosened the bond around Esther's leg and opened the letter. Esther soared into the air at once as if afraid that he would send her back then and there.

"How do you manage to do that every time?", asked Jared referring to David's wandless magic. David had used this type of magic frequently in the common room which fascinated some and agitated others.

"He does that ever since we know each other, you know?" whispered Alex to Jared, "once he saved a friend of ours when she fell from a tree."

Meanwhile, David read the letter. It was from Julia. He had only come to know her last year. There was a piece of a US Muggle newspaper that announced that Joan Epps now was the first woman and Afro-American to become the President of the United States.

As for Julia, she wrote that she was now working in the Headquarters of MACUSA but couldn't yet write about this until it had been officially announced.

What position was this, David wondered. He knew that she had been an Auror at the California administrative body of MACUSA.

"Come on, we should get going, otherwise we'll be late for History of Magic." said Alex.

David put the letter and newspaper in his bag and followed the other two out of the hall...

* * *

 **I for myself love history. I of course know the clichée of the boring history professor even if I only experienced it once at university. I don't think that McGonagall had accepted Binns as a professor.**

 **That Neville will become the herbology professor is revealed**

 **SPOILER at the end of "Deathly Hallows" END SPOILER.**

 **I don't know at what age once is accepted into the Slug-Club but I think someone like David would be landing there sooner than later.**

 **The friend that Alex refers to is Eve Williams who has a small role in my main story "A Child of Two Worlds".**

 **As living people aren't allowed to be depicted in fanfiction if they have a greater role, I replaced Barack Obama with Joan Epps. This also gave me the opportunity to play a bit with her connections to the magical world...**


	3. Cui bono?

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 3:** **Cui bono?**

 **Hogwarts 2009**

He looked out of the carriage to the marvellous outline that were Hogwarts. It was as if he would once again see the castle for the first time. David remembered well how he had come with Alex, Jared and Catherine and the others in the self-moving boats over the lake seeing Hogwarts for the first time.

Now the four of them were sitting together awaiting the arrival in front of the Entrance Hall. Alex had been in Lübeck during the holidays visiting her aunt Ingrid and her wife. Catherine had been in Canada with her parents where they had relatives. Jared hadn't been away but had spent his holidays at home in Devon.

The carriages came to a halt. While David exited the carriage and went with the others into the Entrance Hall, he felt...excitement, relief, a feeling of security. Finally, he was back again. He was a part of something, not an outsider. In Winkfield, Alex and her family were the only wizards around.

They went into the Great Hall and David, Alex and Jared sat down at the Ravenclaw table while Catherine went to the Hufflepuffs. Finally the first years came inside, led by Professor Flitwick. David found exciting and somehow weird to experience the watch the selection from the other perspective.

"Hobday, Egmont." Flitwick called.

"RAVENCLAW!" the Sorting Hat called.

David clapped with the others for the new Ravenclaw. He greeted the young boy cordially as he sat to them, a little shy.

"Jorkins, Griselda!"

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Lupin, Edward!"

A boy with light brown hair appeared out of the crowd of first years. He nervously sat on the stool and David noticed that, shortly before putting on the hat, the boy's hair became white.

"What did he do with his hair?" David whispered to Alex.

"I think he's a Metamorphmagus." she whispered back. "Meaning he can change their appearance at will."

The hat remained silent for a moment. Then he announced:

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

David watched as Edward ran to the Hufflepuff table.

* * *

David had a lot of fun when he was allowed to practise magic again. Already in the first day in the Transfiguration lesson he effortlessly managed to turn a beetle into a button. In Herbology they worked with Mandrakes whose screams were deadly. But as they worked with very young plants their screams were harmless.

In Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Anthony Goldstein explained the phenomenon of Vampires.

"Strictly speaking they shouldn't be regarded as belonging to the dark arts as they, similar to the Werewolves, aren't the result of a curse but of an illness, a magical virus, which is transmitted via a bite."

Professor Goldstein waved his wand and uncovered two paintings and a photo, all moving.

"In contrast to a Werewolf bite, the bite of a Vampire will lead to permanent changes of the body. Skin is losing colour and it is dangerous for a Vampire to leave their dwelling in broad daylight. They become virtually invulnerable and have a very long lifespan which can last for several centuries."

Professor Goldstein paced in front of the class.

"But most importantly, they can't consume anything else than blood. This can be human blood but also that of goblins, centaurs or that of animals like cats or birds. Their psyche can also change. The Vampire can have a totally different character than the human they have once been. They can be friendly, apathetic, arrogant, less likeable than they have been or their sexual orientation may change. And yes, Vampires do reproduce among themselves other than werewolves. They also can interbreed with humans. Many Vampires will at first try to seduce a human before they'll bite them. One peculiarity is common to all Vampires: they will get aroused at the smell of blood."

He pointed to one of the paintings showing a female Vampire who gazed at the class, especially at the girls, with a seductive smile. There was something voracious in her eyes.

"This is Lady Carmilla Sanguina from Hungary. Her thirst for blood became so strong that she couldn't resist bathing in the blood of her victims. She had a taste for young women. I will spare you the details but she went down in history as one of the most bloodthirsty Vampire in the world."

He went to the next picture.

"This Vampire became so famous that he became subject of Muggle media. Vlad II. Drakul, duke of Wallachia in Rumania. Born as a human, he became a Vampire under circumstances that are not entirely clear anymore. Some speculate that one of his three mistresses had bitten him."

The professor pointed to the photos of a Vampire. The woman had a serious look on her face.

"And here we have the most famous still living Vampire, Madame Floarea Roșmușca, head of the American Vampire Society, the biggest Vampire society in the world. She has tried for years to improve the image of Vampires. Nevertheless, there have been conflicts with Vampires in the States. The local MACUSA administration in California has registered the as of now highest number of Vampire attacks in the United States in the last year."

David had to think of Julia who had to deal with Vampires in her time as an Auror in California, as she had written in her letters, before she had become Director of Magical Security in New York therefore being the head of the Auror Office on a federal level.

* * *

David was especially looking forward to History of Magic. He was also very interested in history privately. Professor Wilkinson, the only American professor at Hogwarts, had constructed this subject so excitingly and intoxicating that earlier generations wouldn't have recognised it anymore.

It already became clear in their first year that he cared for more than dates and facts. Wilkinson wanted to reveal historical context, to show what had let to events, not only by humans but also by other things like climate changes. He neatly managed to connect wizarding and Muggle history as they were tightly intertwined even beyond 1692. Furthermore, like many young wizards he had travelled about not only in his own country and so taught far more than British or American history but that of the whole world. Last year for instance they had learned about pre-history and Professor Wilkinson had told them about magical graves in East and South Africa, the oldest known graves of humanity, about the wizarding cave paintings in the Sahara Desert, in France, in Russia and Argentina.

Furthermore they had learned about pre-Columbian cultures in the Americas like the city of Caral, the first city of South America, the vast trade network of American cultures reaching from the Great Lakes all the way to Mexico and South America. From the first wizarding schools in Chan Chan, Huari, Tiwanaku, Cahokia, Teotihuacán and the one in the Brazilian rainforest later called Castelobruxo.

Wilkinson had taught them ancient occidental history: he had told them about ancient Egyptian witches and wizards, those who had ruled as pharaohs over the realm, from wizards of ancient Greece like the seer Mopsos, the dark wizard Herpo the Foul or the Germanic priestess Veleda who had fought against the Romans or the druid Diviciacus. Wilkinson also explained the old European tradition of channelling magic through objects such as swords, staffs or hammers before wands took their role.

In ancient Asia swords and staffs had also been used to channel magic. Famous Asian witches and wizards were Fù Hǎo, the wife of Wǔ Dīng, a Shāng Dynasty king or Lí Jī, the concubine of Duke Xiàn of Jìn, the alchemist Zōu Yǎn, founder of the Wǔdāng Academy of Magic, who allegedly had found the Elixir of Life and last but not least Himiko, queen of Yamatai.

Now there were studying the Middle Ages: they learned of the rise of Islam and of magical scholars in Damascus, Jerusalem and Baghdad. Of the Moors who resided in Córdoba from 756 onwards and where in the year 934 the wizarding school of Al-Ḥarīš was founded, called Aljarís in modern times. Wilkinson also told them of wizards like Armand Malfoy who came to England with William the Conqueror as part of the Norman invasion having done shady magical services to him. Or the ancestors of the Shafiq family who came back with Richard the Lionheart from the third crusade. The most important event in medieval wizarding history were the founding of Wizards' Councils in Europe forming something of a wizarding political organisation for the first time in history that could make diplomacy with Muggle leaders. There were also signs that, in spite of the Church influencing more and more the view of witches and wizards, earthly rulers weren't reluctant to ask the help of wizards if it suited them. In all crusades, in all factions, witches and wizards had been active.

David was listening excitingly and eagerly made notes. Often he would ask questions which would lead Wilkinson to explain a specific detail or an aspect that wasn't obvious.

At the end of the lesson, Professor Wilkinson asked David to stay for a while.

"Mr. Reed, I admire your efficient participation but if you keep asking so much, the others won't have a chance to do the same."

David grinned a bit embarrassed.

"Well, sir, it's a subject which fascinates me."

The professor looked at David.

"You're of No-Maj heritage, aren't you?"

"...yes, sir?" David replied uncertainly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to offend you." Wilkinson said while putting his briefcase under his arm and going downstairs with David.

"I know of the discrimination of No-Maj-borns in Europe all too well. That never really played a role in America, you know."

"No, sir. they preferred to segregate so much from the Muggles that they neglected Muggle-born more and more."

Wilkinson stopped short.

"Well, you already seem to have a considerable amount of knowledge on that."

"I've been in the States once."

"Oh, you have?"

They had arrived at the Great Hall.

"Well, David, if you're really so much interested in history I can only recommend the Hogwarts Library. There you'll find the best books on this topic."

* * *

Indeed, David was spending much time in the library, often in the company of Alex. Together they combed through the enormous library searching the old volumes hiding the most fascinating subjects.

But still there was a new passion for both of them: Quidditch. David and Alex had joined the Ravenclaw team, Alex as a seeker and David as a chaser. The two of them had discovered flying one year ago and now they were able to play off their talent for it. At their first match which was against Hufflepuff in the fourth week of November they won by a mile. Catherine who was playing as a chaser for Hufflepuff hadn't made it easy for him but in the end he had bested her with stunning manoeuvres on his Nimbus. She didn't resented it however and even congratulated him and Alex for their victory.

David for his part had quite the stories to tell when he came back for Christmas this year when the family came together: his parents, his grandmother and his father's sister, her husband and their two little girls. He told them of the lessons and the magic he had learned although he wasn't allowed to perform any spells or charms until he was seventeen which would be on May 7th 2014 near the end of his sixth year.

* * *

By now, the Easter holidays had arrived. How fast time went. In the Ravenclaw common room the second-years were brooding over their elective subjects they would have next year. Professor Robinson had shortly asked to speak to him. She wanted to have at least one Muggle-born in her class so as there would be one student who could speak from experience. David had agreed and Alex too had without further ado chose Muggle Studies as well. Furthermore they had chosen Care of Magical Creatures and Study of Ancient Runes. Jared meanwhile had chosen Divination instead of Ancient Runes. Personally, David didn't think much of that yet he didn't voiced it out loud. The Ravenclaws were used to have eccentrics among themselves and David even had to admit that he was a tiny bit fascinated by Jared's attempts to read prediction with Ovomancy.

David meanwhile had caused some attention as he had come into an argument with Robert, a third-year from a pure-blood family. While playing chess, they had begun a conversation about wizards and Muggles and had finally landed on the subject of the Statute of Secrecy.

"They'll want us to do their dirty work, David. Or they going to hunt us. We had good reasons to go into hiding all those centuries ago." Robert said.

"We could have kept them at bay." David replied while making his move. "We could have faced them instead of holing up. Besides we're going to be exposed anyway sooner or later if we do nothing. Their technology is getting better year by year, Robert. Now they have these smartphones, those are telephones with which they can do much more than communicating. With those it'll only take them seconds to put a video on the internet! They are much more networked than some of us would even like to believe."

"Networked! Then we'll simply vanish those pictures or videas or what they're called. We did it before, they can't do anything against our methods if we..."

"You're underestimating them tremendously, Robert." Alex interrupted him. She had sat besides David having followed the conversation like the others.

"And that will be a very big problem if we look at Muggles simply as this laughing stock whose inventions is but a cheap imitation of magic. We're not in the 90s anymore, Robert. They create better technologies faster and faster! We can't just rely on Obliviators anymore. We only have two options: we'll either have to go even further into hiding with total segregation like the Americans have done under Rappaport's Law or..."

She hesitated for a moment.

"...or we cancel the Statute and reveal ourselves to the world."

A murmur filled the whole common room. David thought about her words.

"You can't seriously mean that!" Robert exclaimed incredulously.

"Eventually we'll have to." Alex said. "If we don't it will be them who'll discover us first."

* * *

 **Names:**

 _ **Mópsos**_ **(Μόψος),**

 _ **Herpōn ho deinós**_ **(Ἕρπων ὁ δεινός),**

 _ **Fù Hǎo**_ **(婦好),**

 _ **Wǔ Dīng**_ **(** **武丁** **),**

 _ **Lí Jī**_ **(** **驪** **姬** **),**

 _ **Jìn Xiàn Gōng**_ **(** **晉獻公** **),**

 _ **Zōu Yǎn**_ **(** **鄒衍** **),**

 _ **Himiko**_ **(** **卑彌呼** **),**

 _ **Wǔdāng**_ **(** **武當** **),**

 _ **Yamatai**_ **(** **邪馬台** **),**

 _ **Al-Ḥarīš**_ **(الْحَرِيش)**


	4. A Life in Secrecy

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 4:** **A Life in Secrecy**

 **Hogwarts 2010**

As if he had never been away, that was the way David felt the first day of the new year. The third already! And it was interesting from the first day on: they would start with the elective subjects they had chosen last year.

Already on the first morning, David and Alex had had Study of Ancient Runes with Professor Babbling. Sources of ancient Germanic magic. Part of these lessons was the study of the Proto-Germanic language of which there were more written sources in the wizarding world than in the Muggle world as Germanic witches and wizards had used these writing systems more than their Muggle brothers and sisters and made sure that they endured. But they also studies the Old Norse language which was also spoken in Ireland, Scotland and England around the Founder's time. Indeed, there were some books in the Hogwarts library not only written in Old English but also in Old Norse.

Jared meanwhile had his first lesson in Divination and was very excited when he met the others outside the Transfiguration classroom.

"So how was Divination?" asked Alex.

"Fascinating!" Jared replied, "I've always known that I had the intuition for this. Sometimes I can even see things that haven't happened yet."

"So you think you're a Seer?" David wondered. Seers were rare.

"My mother had visions as well." Jared explained, "She had foreseen the thing with the Cursed Vaults and the ice protecting them. The Ice Knights."

"Then your uncle was Jacob Fawcett?" David asked.

He had read about these events from around 26 years ago in _Hogwarts: A History_.

Jared nodded.

"But you won't be stepping into his footsteps and search for the Cursed Vaults, will you?" Alex said.

Jared shook his head laughing.

"No. I have better things to do than to be expelled."

At that moment, Professor Padma Patil, their Transfiguration teacher, came and opened the classroom.

Professor Patil taught then about Animagi, wizards with the ability to turn into an animal. And at the end of the lesson she made a surprising proposal:

"If one of you has the wish to become an Animagus, I offer to train them myself. Said training will take two years. After that you can absolve a test in the presence of an officer of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

David raised his hand immediately but he wasn't the only one. Christina Haywood from Gryffindor and Sarah Selwyn from Slytherin also wanted to train.

In the afternoon they had Care of Magical Creatures with Professor Hagrid, a giant of a man! But the first impression was deceiving as Hagrid was an extremely friendly person of about 82 years which wasn't much for a wizard compared to a Muggle. Professor Hagrid taught them about Hippogriffs, beings half-bird half-horse.

* * *

David was curious about Defence against the Dark Arts. Professor Goldstein had told them last year that they would do practical lessons in their third year.

When they entered they saw that the tables in the classroom had been put to the side and at the other end stood a large wardrobe.

"Inside this wardrobe is a Boggart." Professor Goldstein explained, "A creature that will take on the form of that which you fear the very most. Luckily there is a simple charm to repel a Boggart: _Riddikulus_."

Several students were staring anxiously towards the wardrobe.

"I'd like you to take a moment and think of your greatest fear and how you can turn the Boggart into something funny."

They formed a line in front of the wardrobe. Professor Goldstein called them one by one.

"Jared."

Jared made a step towards the wardrobe. Professor Goldstein pointed his wand at the wardrobe's door which opened. A growl could be heard. Then an enormous black dog came out of the wardrobe. A Grim. Jared raised his wand: " _Riddikulus!_ "

The Grim turned into a puppy.

"Catherine, it's your turn."

Catherine rushed forward. _Bang!_ The Boggart turned into creature that vaguely looked like a black cloak gliding slowly over the floor: a Lethifold.

" _Riddikulus!_ "

The Lethifold now stood on its tail and was colourful like a rainbow. Music could be heard and the Lethifold began to dance.

"Next: Marcus."

Marcus Nott stepped forward. _Bang!_ Before him stood a decomposing corpse whose skin was only hanging from it in tatters, sticking on the skull, the eyeholes empty and black. Stretching out an arm, the corpse slowly shuffled towards Marcus.

" _Riddikulus!_ " Marcus shouted and the corpse bruised a toe causing it to hobble around clutching its foot whining.

"It's your turn, David."

 _Calm down, you can do it_ , David thought as he stepped forward.

 _Bang!_ David's eyes widened. Before him stood a soldier. David heard a murmur behind him. The soldier came closer pointing his rifle at David. It looked somewhat futuristic. At lightning speed, David reacted: " _Riddikulus!_ " he cried. The soldier's helmet turned into a party hat and out of his rifle came confetti. David grinned.

"And next."

Christina stepped forward. _Bang!_ It wasn't few who screamed: a werewolf was standing before them. Snarling, it came closer to the girl. Christina took a deep breath: " _Riddikulus!_ "

In front of them lay a stuffed wolf toy.

"Alex, you're next."

Hesitantly, Alex stepped forward. David wondered what would be his best friend's worst fear.

 _Bang!_ A man stood before them. An old man. He had almost lost his entire scalp hair wearing a moustache and goatee. Alex seemed to be frozen to stone. Her hand twitched. She held up her wand but didn't spoke the spell, perhaps because she didn't know how she could turn this situation into something funny. Then David could hear her hissing:

"No, I'm not like you!"

And she spoke the spell. A pan appeared behind the man hitting him on his head. His eyes turned, his tongue hang out of his mouth making him look rather dim-witted and he staggered around as if he was drunk.

Alex breathed a sigh of relief.

"And next." Professor Goldstein said...

* * *

Murmuring intensively, the students went out of the classroom.

"Have you seen this Muggle? Who was he?"

"Who was that man?" Jared asked Alex.

She looked to the floor.

"My grandfather." she said. "He was a follower of Grindelwald. Joined him when he was only 16."

Alex told him the story of her grandfather and how it affected his children, especially her own father who, with his wife, had decided to remain in England. How his family's past had haunted her father and, by extension, his daughter.

"So that's why your parents decided to remain here." Jared said, "what were they doing after that?"

"My parents then have began to train as Aurors when Rufus Scrimgeour became Minister for Magic and joined the Order of the Phoenix." she then told the other two. "They were one of the youngest Aurors at that time. And it was around that time that they met David's parents."

"Indeed," David explained, "my parents told me how Alex's parents have helped them to hide when Voldemort came into power. Alex and I had just been born, we were only three months old."

"My parents weren't suspected as they both were Pure-bloods and had played their role well at first." Alex continued.

"While the Death Eaters lead the ministry, Aurors were forced to locate Muggle-borns or to hunt Muggles. Or traitors. Those who refused were arrested. However, my parents used this to secretly hide people who they were meant to arrest or kill. This went well for some time. But then security was being increased even more than it already had been when Harry Potter himself managed to infiltrate the ministry and help Muggle-borns to escape. Every Auror now was accompanied by a Snatcher or even a Death Eater. And my father's next assignment was to attack a Muggle School where the brother of a ministry worker happened to work."

"It was also the school where my mother worked, so me and my family might have been a potential target as well." David added.

"So Alex's father decided to help both said brother and my mother and to prevent the attack which was meant to be a deterrence to Muggle-borns."

"Anyway, my father was practically surrounded by Snatchers." Alex said. "So he began to duel them which didn't take long as he had learned all sorts of martial magic during his time at Durmstrang. He contacted my mother. Together with David's parents and that ministry worker's Muggle brother they went into hiding. After travelling for some time, they could finally find a member of the Order of the Phoenix who would offer them to stay with them: the Tonks family."

Alex frowned.

"If my grandfather knew what they had done to protect Muggles. We should be glad that the British ministry had made so many reforms after the war. In my father's country it is by far not the same. Last thing I've heard was that a rather conservative wizard has been elected Federal Minister for Magic, Thomas Reischer. Who knows where that will lead to? Has Franziska Pietsch been to progressive? Her ten years in office had been great for the German wizarding community."

* * *

Professor Robinson was already waiting for them when they went to their first lesson of Muggle Studies. First she paced around for a couple of minutes, then she turned to the class.

"First: what do you know about Muggles?"

A girl raised her hand.

"They have...eckeltricity, haven't they?"

 _Oh, this is going to be great_ , David thought...


	5. Beware the Man of One Book

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 5:** **Beware the Man of One Book**

 **Hogwarts 2011**

With mixed feelings, David was heading through the corridor to Professor Slughorn's office. This was the first time when everything was different. He and Alex had been together since they could remember, inseparable since they were babies. And now she was somewhere else. On a student exchange program in Brazil at the famous wizarding school of Castelobruxo.

But still, life at Hogwarts hadn't been less interesting, on the contrary: Professor Slughorn had invited some of them to a party, a meeting of Hogwarts' brightest and best as Slughorn called it. After the latest potion lesson in which they had brewed a Girding Potion, Slughorn had taken David, Catherine and Jared aside to invite them to a little dinner party for "special students".

Professor Slughorn's office was fairly roomy and larger than most teacher's offices. There were five other students: Jared and Christina but also a Hufflepuff student named Ibrahim Shafiq. The last two were a new student who David hadn't had much contact with and a third year who had caught David's eye at his sorting two years ago: the Metamorphmagus whose hair today was bright red.

It was a fine dinner with good food, pheasant among other things. David learned several things about his other classmates as Slughorn questioned them one after the other.

"How is your father, Mr. Shafiq? I heard he wanted to persuade the minister to allow the importation of flying carpets. The last attempts have failed after all."

"Indeed, sir." Shafiq answered. "The Americans surprisingly have announced last year that they would ease the restrictions. We hope to can make similar steps. Demand has increased, especially with families. Simply more comfortable, I'd say. Our brothers and sisters in the Orient can manage it after all."

"Well, I wish your father good luck with that." Slughorn said.

"I must say concerning potions, a new one is now available on the market. The Practical Potioneer has reported extensively on this. Miss Haywood's mother is the editor of this learned publication, you know. We're reaching new frontiers, don't we, Miss Haywood?"

"Oh yes." Christina said. "Herbologists have made new findings in Antarctica and new possibilities for potions."

David turned to Christina, interested.

"I didn't know wizards had even ventured into Antarctica." he said.

"Oh, that was not so long ago." remarked Slughorn. "52 years ago the Newton Scamander Research Base was constructed there. The last white spot of magical knowledge in the world. At least concerning potions."

He turned to David.

"And what profession do your parents have, Mr. Reed? From what I heard, you come from a Muggle family."

All eyes were focused on David. No one else in this room was Muggle-born.

"Well, uhm..." David cleared his throat. "my father is a police officer in the Metropolitan Police Service."

"A police officer? What exactly does this mean?" Slughorn asked.

"Aren't these those Muggle Aurors with these...puns that can kill people?" Jared asked.

"Guns, not puns" David corrected, "but yeah, basically they are the Muggle equivalent of Aurors. My father is an AFO, Authorised firearms officer, meaning that he is allowed to carry weapons. "

"And your mother is a police officer as well?"

"No, sir. She's a biology teacher at a secondary school. That's a school for kids from age 11 to 18."

"Interesting." Slughorn said, "And what does the teaching of biology include?"

"Well, everything that life includes, from cell division to genetics to reproduction." David explained while house-elves took away the now empty plates replacing them with bowls of ice-cream as a dessert.

Slughorn now turned to the new student.

"How do you like Hogwarts so far, Miss Aragão?"

Aragão? David suddenly knew where she was coming from.

"Well, I like it here." Miss Aragão said with a Portuguese accent.

"It is so different from Castelobruxo. The subjects too. We work with other plants and ingredients in, uh, _Herbologia_ and... _Poções_? Potions."

Slughorn further asked Miss Aragão, whose first name was Carla, about potion making methods at Castelobruxo then he turned to the third-year boy.

"Mr. Lupin..."

Edward Lupin was as it turned out the son of Remus Lupin who had been Professor for Defence Against the Dark Arts and Nymphadora Tonks, an Auror. Both had fought in the battle of Hogwarts but didn't survive. Harry Potter was Edward's godfather.

All in all it was a very interesting evening. After they had said goodbye, David accompanied Christina to the Gryffindor Tower.

"Well, that was nice." Christina said.

"Definitely." David replied. "Would you go again?"

"Certainly, when the next one is announced. Shall we go together then?"

David returned her smile, her cute little smile...

"Absolutely."

She beamed.

"Good night then. See you tomorrow."

"See you." David said and watched her entering the common room through the Fat Lady's portrait.

With a weird feeling in his stomach, as if he was about to fly, David wandered back to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

* * *

It was as if only now they were really learning what magic meant. Everywhere they seemed to step up a bit. In Transfiguration they learned about cross-species switching for the first time. In Defence Against the Dark Arts they were learning about dark curses such as the Three Unforgivable Curses (yet only in theory) and were taught about dark creatures like the Dementors which, since Azkaban was guarded by Aurors, had withdrawn beyond the 60th parallel north and were seen now mainly in Siberia.

Often, David and Christina would be a team in these lessons. Both were spending more and more time with each other, be it when doing homework or when playing chess.

When David was entering the Owlery one week before Halloween to send a letter to his parents reporting on the latest events, he heard a familiar voice as he opened the door.

"Oh, hi David."

David looked up. Christina was standing there, smiling brightly at him. David smiled back.

"How are you?"

"Oh fine." she said. "Just sending a parcel home. You?"

"A letter to my parents." David explained while calling his owl Esther.

"You know, they're Muggles. I regularly tell them what's happening here."

Together, they carried their owls to the window and watched as they were flying to the horizon.

"Christina?"

"Hm?"

"Next week's the first weekend to Hogsmeade this year." David hesitated for a second.

"Do you want to go with me?"

She looked at him. And grinned.

"Oh yes!"

* * *

David and Christina met in the Entrance Hall on Halloween. David thought that Christina looked gorgeous. She wore her fine auburn hair openly so it fell behind her shoulders which she did rarely. When he came down the marble staircase she gave him one of her enchanting smiles.

They talked the whole way to Hogsmeade about this and that. Quidditch – the Ravenclaw team had to look for a replacement for the Seeker position as Alex wasn't here this year, David's interest in Muggle studies – when he himself had Muggle parents, the articles David wrote which were published in the youth sections of the Daily Prophet, Transfiguration Today or the Practical Potioneer.

In the village they paid a visit to Honeydukes where they bought sweets for their relatives which was a special occasion especially for David since his family didn't know the offered goods. For that reason he always looked for something new (apart from the Peppermint Toads which his father liked so very much).

Christina went with David to the Herbology shop Dogweed and Deathcap where all kinds of potions and herbs could be bought. What Christina wanted to show him could be found on a shelf at the back of the shop: potions in relation to sexual intercourse, pregnancies or births. Potions for contraception, lactation or for stimulating the body so as to enable a comfortable, gentle, even arousing birth without pain. Christina looked to David suggestively. David returned her smile. They bought some of the potions. You never know.

After they had left the shop, Christina showed David another building. Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop. Although David found it to be a bit too twee, they had a lot of fun.

* * *

Besides his studies and the dates with Christina, David also took time to write. Although he had already begun last year writing articles and publish them in the Daily Prophet, this was his greatest work yet: a disquisition on the historical relationship between wizards and Muggles – from both side's perspective – as well as a view of the future with two possible scenarios:

one in which the wizarding community would stick to the Statute of Secrecy and one where they would dare to reveal themselves to the Muggles and try to work together. He and Alex had collected notes ever since they first had the idea one year ago. They had also had fierce discussions with other Ravenclaws in the common room. Even now, Alex continued to send David ideas in letters where she told about her life at Castelobruxo deep in the Amazon Rainforest. She had good incentives since the local wizards helped the indigenous peoples, whether wizard or not, to find protection from woodcutters, gold seekers and other forms of exploitation by Muggle conglomerates.

David searched the library but it wasn't easy to find material for this subject. Although there were many history books but a really deep and objective insight wasn't there to be found. As David learned, the intensive research on the history of the wizard-Muggle relationship was fairly young, at least in Britain. It had begun as part of Minister Shacklebolt's reforms as well as research done by Muggle-borns who professionally engaged in the subject like for example Professor Robinson.

But most of the older works were either heavily judgemental or only dealt with the subject very cursorily, often both. David was sometimes shocked by the racism and the arrogance that some authors had. It didn't wondered him much that these kind of books were to be found in the Restricted Section. They had been brought here after the war. David managed to get the authorisation from Professor Robinson to look into them as he wanted to make sure he'd see every available source the library could offer.

Finally he gave up though and wandered through the seventh-floor corridor one Saturday afternoon, frustrated. The corridor was empty. He kept pacing around. Somewhere there had to be material on this, surely England couldn't be the only place in the world where there were problems with the Statute of Secrecy. He needed to somehow get his hands on those works!

David stopped short. Staring exactly at the wall opposite the tapestry showing Barnabas the Barny trying to teach trolls how to dance. There wasn't supposed to be double doors at this spot! Well, "supposed to be" was a phrase that should be used carefully at this school as doors and stairs could very well change location, especially secret passages. Was this one of them? Or could this be the entrance to one of the Cursed Vaults in the end? Or could it be...well, he had only heard rumours.

Slowly, David stepped towards the doors which opened on their own and pulled out his wand. The room was dark, only dimly lit. " _Lumos._ " David whispered and a light appeared at the tip of his wand.

He found himself in some kind of archive. Rows and rows of shelves with books and files filled the room.

"The Come and Go Room. Showing me whatever I require..." David whispered to himself.

There were fairly young books but also old, even ancient ones. There were writings in English, German but also in French, Spanish, Latin, Ancient Greek, Old Church Slavonic, Arabic, Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese, even in Nahuatl, Cherokee or Creek, languages which David didn't speak. Perhaps he should be taking language courses during the holidays. In London, there was a wizarding language school, the Euro-Glyph School of Extraordinary Languages.

David went to one of the shelves and opened one file: _Bericht über magische Aktivitäten in Twasengebieten_. A German text on magical activities within Muggle territories.

"Oh, this is interesting."

David's knowledge of the German language wasn't very good yet, Alex was helping him learning one of her three mother tongues. But at least, David could make out something of the report.

"You bloody liars!"

David closed the file in disbelief. What other secrets did this room hold?

"How can this be? This can't be Hogwarts anymore!"

He went further combing through the shelves, looked into books, files, atlases, studied maps, drawings of strange, fantastic creatures not even Newt Scamander wrote about.

"No, this cannot be!"

He read about historical subjects that even Professor Wilkinson hadn't told them about!

It was far more than David had wanted, more than he could ever dream of. Had his request been too general? Had there been unconscious thoughts, feelings bubbling inside him that the room had taken as part of his request?

"What are you?" he whispered, "What are you showing me, huh? The big picture? Is that a statement? A demand?"

David walked between the shelves, already too far away to see the doors, was this room endless, infinite?

"Is it that? Because I have the suspicion that these things aren't withheld from us without reason. Most of this would be seen as conspiracy theories anyway! And how do you have access to all this? I wanted to rouse up the world! Show her what would happen if we didn't do a damn thing, if _they_ would find us. And what they would do if we were actually helping them. Where did you get this stuff? How can all these things be known? What is revealed in here could spark a downright revolution, do you hear me?" he shouted into the room. He was drained, his heart beat rapidly.

"What are you telling me?!"

Silence. No one answered.

David panted as if he had just finished a marathon. He sat at a wall closing his eyes.

"I don't want the world to crumble." He nearly cried. "I just wanted to warn. Otherwise we will fall into the abyss on our own."

He picked up the courage. Opened his eyes. Stood up. Where was the doors again?

"Okay. You..." He walked between the shelves. "you show this to no one. Only I am allowed to enter this place. Except if I specifically allow for others to come along."

David had reached the double doors.

"Some things best remain secret." he whispered.

Once more, David turned towards the room's vast space.

"Right...'Till next time."

As if we would fleeing from a fire, he slipped out of the room closing the doors.

David watched as the doors slowly disappeared.

* * *

David had noticed that had became very popular among his classmates, especially among the Ravenclaws. Some even asked him for advice and he found they even seemed to admire him sometimes. It might have been because he was showing a unusual affinity for non-verbal and wandless magic. Often he sat on the floor of the common room concentrating to let things float without a wand or any spoken words (which was easy) or charm or transform them somehow (which was not so easy). According to older students, such magic would only be taught at N.E.W.T. level!

Understandably, many asked him he had learned that and every time David answered that he always could do this but couldn't really explain _how_ he did it. He could just do it, he didn't think about it, he just concentrated on the goal.

But there were also those who were visibly envious of him, even despised him for being better than them. Marcus Nott was such a person. In his case it was even somewhat disgusting since he frequently asked aloud as to why a Mudblood even had such magic. Once when several students including a Prefect were nearby, Nott asked whether David couldn't have stolen his magic from pure-blood wizards whereupon the prefect furiously deducted 50 points from Slytherin and put Nott on detention. After all, the claim that Muggle-borns would steal magic had been the excuse to round up, arrest or kill hundreds of Muggle-borns under Voldemort's regime.

This had been the situation from their first year onwards. In time, Nott had increased his meanness more and more. And David had always managed to either ignore him or met Nott with clever retorts. But he was convinced that the time would come when Nott wouldn't just assault him verbally.

His assumption was confirmed one day when David left the Great Hall together with Christina after lunch.

"You know, Reed, I always wondered why they would even let you into their lessons here, you actually should join that Squib of a caretaker. Or go right into the kitchens, the house-elves would welcome you as you're almost as good as them."

David pretended not to hear Nott and went towards the marble staircase with Christina.

"And Haywood, why do you consort with that filth, do you have a thing for zoophilia?"

Christina stopped in her tracks, an indignant look on her face.

"How can he dare making such comparisons?" she whispered to David.

"Just leave him, that's exactly what he wants. Provocation. Come on, let's get going."

They made their way up the marble staircase.

"Perhaps one should train this dog so he learns not to chat up to its mistress." it came from below.

Several frightened screams could be heard as well as many feet quickly moving. David reacted at quick as a flash. Quickly pushing Christina to the side, he ducked behind a column.

Whatever spell or curse had been fired, it missed David by a hair. He pulled out his wand and stepped out from behind the column.

At once, Nott fired another spell: " _Incarcerous!_ "

Without saying a single word, David performed a Shield Charm blocking the spell.

He calmly stood there looking down at Nott with disgust who stood at the foot of the staircase.

"Oh, the Mudblood thinks, he's too clever by half! What are you waiting for, fight back!"

Slowly, David went down the staircase, his wand down. He saw Nott looking around slightly nervous. A faint smirk appeared on David's face.

Then Nott furiously came closer to David, aggressively firing off spells:

" _Expelliarmus! Impedimenta! Stupefy!_ "

David parried in a flash. All three spells bounced off his shield.

" _Confringo!_ " Nott barked.

The weight of his spells was so strong that it shattered the shield and made David stumble on the stairs. He balanced himself. In his brief shock, he barely noticed Nott shouting something.

As David was about to swing his wand, he felt a stabbing pain in his right hand as if an arrow had pierced through it. His wand fell down. He held his right hand with the other. Blood was flowing like water. He felt a strong pulsation. Everything was spinning inside his head. He felt how he overbalanced. The world was turning and he felt hitting the floor. He barely noticed voices...

* * *

David opened his eyes. He lay in a bed. Feeling dizzy, he turned his head and looked around. He had to be in the hospital wing. Next to him sat Christina and Jared. Christina smiled when he looked at her.

"David, you're awake!"

David smiled faintly, then groaned and sat up. His hand was bandaged and felt stiff.

"What happened?"

"Nott has fired some kind of dark curse." explained Jared. "Your hand bled like hell. Needed to go to the hospital wing immediately. Madame Pomfrey only just managed to save you."

"She gave her best." Christina added. "but it will take a while until you can use your hand again. And the wound likely won't ever probably heal."

David looked at his right hand. There wasn't any pain, it just felt...numb.

"How long do I have to stay?"

"A couple of days, Mr. Reed."

Madame Pomfrey had just come out of her office. She held a bottle with a red fluid in her hand.

"You have to drink this potion here, every two hours so that you have enough blood again. But I'd like to keep an eye on you for a while, you've been quite weakened because of your blood loss."

David sighed.

"Is Nott going to be punished?"

Christina looked at him.

"They've forbidden him to practise magic for now, his wand has been confiscated. There are rumours that he will be expelled but as of yet, the teachers haven't said anything. If it does happen, the teachers will announce it on the day he's leaving."

* * *

David didn't like to be all alone. Although Christina tried to be with him as often as she could, most times she had lessons. She told him what they had done and what they had to do for homework. David had managed to enchant parchment, quill and books to float without a wand and writing down what he dictated. It was fun and was a distraction from boredom he felt when he was alone.

Luckily, Christina could visit him on Saturday, the last day which he would have to spend here.

"How's breakfast?" she greeted him.

"Not too bad." he replied. "Hand still needs mending. It's a bit difficult to eat with only one hand. Can't use a knife."

She sat on the side of the bed and took his fork out of his hand.

"Oh, should I feed little David, hm?" she asked playfully.

"Well as long as you don't baby-talk to me."

"Oh, don't worry. Got something better on my mind." She grinned impishly.

* * *

David was glad when he could leave the hospital wing. He could use his hand again, is was all normal again save for the big ugly scar that was running over his skin. David and Christina used their free time to walk by the lake although it had become quite cold and it had started to snow, it didn't bother them. Hagrid had heard of David's recovery and invited him and Christina to his hut.

Nott was actually expelled from school. His father had apparently already awaited him at the front gates and disapparated with his son as soon as he had stepped beyond the school grounds. Some didn't believe that Theodore Nott was angry with his son because of why he had been expelled but merely because of the fact that he had been expelled. The Notts apparently belonged to those kind of wizards who had been very close to Voldemort in his days.

David and Christina only returned to the castle in the evening. First thing after dinner they met and made their way up the marble staircase. Both knew what they wanted to do but there was one problem.

"Where shall we go so no one will see us?" Christina asked.

David looked around.

"Come on. I'll show you something!"

He grinned, taking her hand. Together they ran up to the seventh floor corridor. David stopped before the wall and paced around three times. Christina's jaw dropped when the double doors appeared.

"What is that?" she asked.

David smiled.

"It's called the Room of Requirement, also known as the Come and Go Room. Wish for something and the room shall provide it for you." He took her hand. "May I?"

"Certainly, mister." she laughed.

It was cosily warm. Candles were shining and the room reminded David of one in a mansion in the 18th century. A large four-poster bed was there with enough space for two. Soft music sounded from somewhere, a string instrument. David turned to Christina. A mistletoe began to grow above them. Their lips met, their tongues touched.

Then suddenly she stopped.

"Uh, sorry, but, the potion. You know, for..."

"Of course. First things first." David said, not without a little bit of sarcasm but certainly with a witty smile.

Christina emptied the bottle in one go.

"Okay..."she said breathlessly. "Shall we continue?"

David laughed as she virtually entwined around him. The impact of her embrace made him fall backwards and both of them landed on the bed.

They looked into each other. Then they started to undress...


	6. The Pleasure of Study and Practice

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 6:** **The Pleasure of Study and Practice**

 **Hogwarts 2012**

The landscape swept past them. Always northwards they went. But it wasn't like before. David was nervous. Together with Alex and Christina he went through the train. He had somehow known that he would be appointed but all the same he had been delighted when he had discovered the badge in his letter. And when Alex had found hers.

Now they were heading for the prefects' carriage. Much to David's delightful surprise, Christina too had been made prefect for Gryffindor.

In the prefects' carriage they were welcomed by Abigail Shepard and Oliver Rickett from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff respectively, the Head Girl and Head Boy.

The carriage wasn't divided into compartments but instead reminded David of a saloon carriage, a dining car for elevated passengers. Apart from several tables, a few couches could be found here.

In here, David, Alex and Christina met the rest of the new prefects: the male partner of Christina was Granville Jorkins from Gryffindor, for Hufflepuff, Catherine Macmillan and Ibrahim Shafiq had been appointed and for Slytherin Darius Bole and Sarah Selwyn.

"Please, sit down." Abigail said. They did so.

"First of all congratulations to your appointment as prefects." Oliver began.

"As prefects you have a great responsibility. You help the younger students to get to know Hogwarts and watch over them. Your first duty after this session will be to patrol the train's corridors. You will show the first years where they will sleep and you'll oversee their activities during the break time when they're inside in case of bad weather for instance."

"As prefects you're allowed to deduct house points and give detentions butyou can't do so with other prefects." Abigail continued.

"So that's it for now, do you have questions?"

* * *

The feast was delicious! After the sorting ceremony and Professor McGonagall's speech, David helped himself a great deal.

After they had finished with dessert, Alex turned to David:

"We're supposed to show the first years the way."

David nodded and got up.

"First years, follow us please."

They led the first years into the Entrance Hall and up the marble staircase. David still remembered exactly of his first time, how excited and nervous he had been.

Finally they stood in front of the entrance to the common room.

"Okay." David explained. "so when you want to enter the common room you have to use the knocker." He demonstrated it.

The eagle knocker spoke:

"Which came first, the phoenix, or the flame?"

David grinned internally: this was an old one.

"Sooo, does anyone of you have an idea?" Alex asked the young ones with a smile.

"The phoenix of course." one little girl said.

"No, that would be too simple." a boy answered. "I think the point is that there is always a circle, like the circle of life."

Hopefully he turned to the door but it didn't move.

"Wasn't bad for a start." David said encouragingly. He turned to the door.

"A circle has no beginning."

"A good response." the knocker said and the door opened.

* * *

He had always loved it to study magic, to learn all about the interesting and strange forms of it. And he still did.

David just wished it wouldn't be so stressful and exhausting.

Yet he didn't complain other than so many in his year. He felt that now they were diving into the truly fascinating forms of magic. In Astronomy they were studying Jupiter's moons which interested David the least as he simply could look up anything about the solar system in a Muggle book. How could wizards possibly be better at this than Muggles with all their technology?

In Charms they learned the Silencing Charm, in Potions they had to brew the Draught of Peace with Alex joking it could be the last line of defence should Muggles ever attack them.

In Transfiguration, Professor Patil taught them the Vanishing Spell and announced to the students that they could learn Conjuring Spells only at N.E.W.T level as these were one of the most difficult spells in Transfiguration.

And yet most of the students seemed to only see the oncoming O.W.L.s ahead of them. Apart from that, many sought up David during break times to talk about the book. His book.

 _Until all Eternity? The Magical Community in the 21st Century_ by David Reed

He had published it in the summer and earned quite an outcry, positively but also negatively. Newspapers as well as magazines reported on this.

He still had to deal with a peck of owls coming to the Ravenclaw table in the Great Hall delivering letters by readers. Some contained praise and appreciation, astonishment or encouragement, others were more of an insulting or even threatening nature. Obviously, he had hit quite a nerve in the wizarding community.

* * *

Slughorn too spoke about this subject at one of his dinners. For the first time, Alex was part of those. There had been a little embarrassment when Slughorn first asked her about her parents (who had both risked their lives trying to protect Muggles and Muggle-borns during the Second Wizarding War) but then had asked about their background as they weren't British and hadn't attended Hogwarts and had mentioned Alex's grandfather Richard Heinrich Brandt whose trial by the German Federal Ministry of Magic in late 1995 had become somewhat famous even outside of Germany.

Slughorn's questioning of David quickly became an intensive discussion with all present. And while David felt flattered as well as a little nervous, he quite enjoyed the atmosphere. Slughorn announce that next time, there would be a Christmas Party held in his office.

* * *

On the evening of the party, David picked up Christina from the Gryffindor Common Room dressed in navy blue dress robes. Christina was wearing a gorgeous lilac dress. David couldn't help but noticed how it matched her figure...

"Shall we?" David asked and offered her his arm. She smiled and linked arms with him.

Slughorn's office was nicely decorated for the occasion. golden lamps hung from the ceiling and a Christmas tree stood in a corner.

"Ah, David, there you are, good evening! And good evening, Miss Haywood. Please, follow me."

He led them to a stout man with glasses who was in a conversation with Professor Goldstein.

"May I present Eldred Worple, an ex-student of mine and also a writer."

Worple shook David's hand.

"A pleasure to meet you. I've read your book with great interest. Is it true that you come from a Muggle background?"

"It is, sir." David replied. "And you have, if I remember correctly, live five years among Vampires?"

"Oh, indeed. Like I just said to Professor Goldstein, highly misunderstood people, exactly like Werewolves. If you treat them respectfully, you can learn much about their true lives."

"It wasn't difficult for you?"

"Oh, in the beginning it was. When you live with people who can only digest blood you got to take stick. Luckily, Madame Floarea Roșmușca has always had me brought Human food."

" Floarea Roșmușca?" David wondered. "The head of the American Vampire Society?"

"Why do you ask? Do you know her?"

"No, but I know someone who does. And she told me stories..."

Suddenly Christina tipped him on the shoulder. David turned to her.

Alex had just entered the room. And she looked wonderful. Her hair framed her face, she wore an azure dress. She walked in hand in hand with another girl who wore a dark green, nearly black dress.

Alex reached David and Christina beaming.

"Hi!" she greeted them happily.

"Hey." David said. He regard Alex's date with polite interest.

"Oh, yeah. This is Elena. Elena Blishwick."

Elena shook hands with David and Christina.

Then Alex's eyes widened.

"Mum?"

David looked in the direction Alex was looking and indeed: there stood Maria Brandt along with her husband Friedrich and two other male Auror colleagues as well as a man with glasses, messy black hair and a weird looking scar on his forehead.

David and Christina came along with Alex who walked with her girlfriend to her parents and hugged them.

" _Mama! Papa!_ What are you doing here?"

"Well, we've been invited, dear. Oh, hello David."

David nodded. He and Alex introduced their respective dates. Then Mr. and Mrs. Brandt introduced their colleagues.

"These are Adrian and Colin Cresswell." Mrs. Brandt said. The two 30 year-old men greeted the students.

"Cresswell?" David asked, almost in a whisper. The name rang a bell but he couldn't place where he had heard it before.

"Our...father was murdered by Snatchers in the war." Adrian explained quietly.

"I'm sorry." David said. Now he remembered: the war memorial in the atrium of the ministry. The names of the victims.

"And this." Mr. Brandt said, "is Harry Potter. Head of the Auror Office."

"As far as I've heard not only that." David taking Mr. Potter's hand.

Mr. Potter put on a good front, obviously he was used to the fact that all the world knew his face.

While Alex talked a little more with her parents in German (David caught her father saying something about being glad to be at Hogwarts once again.), David and Christina were once again approached by Slughorn who wanted to introduce other guests:

Another known Ministry official was Hermione Granger, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Before that, she had worked in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures making sure that beings like Goblins, Centaurs, Merpeople but most importantly House-elves were getting better rights (or rights to begin with). That way, Britain had become the most tolerant country concerning magical creatures.

Right now, Mrs. Granger was talking to an elderly couple. David knew the gentleman: it had to be Newt Scamander, author of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_. As it turned out, the woman at his side was Porpentina Goldstein, an American Ex-Auror.

David also got to know Oliver Wood, keeper of the Quidditch team of Puddlemore United.

It was quite an exciting evening which went on well into the night.

* * *

Aside from his studies and his writings, David had one wish: to become an Animagus. And he wasn't alone in this: together with Christina and Sarah Selwyn he had trained under Professor Patil. Now they had to pass the test. Under the watchful eye of a Ministry official the three of them had to successfully transfigure themselves into an animal with their identifying marks clearly visible and transfigure back again. Their Animagus ability had to be mentioned on any official documents and, in case of travelling, had to be made aware to any foreign wizarding government.

Their examiner was a man in his 50s named Pilliwickle.

"Very well, show us what you can do." the examiner said after the three students had been told about the process of the test.

David took a deep breath. Relaxed. Then concentrated. Let all his thought and intentions focussing on the wish to become an animal. Then he felt it.

He was shrinking. A titillation went through every centimetre of his body as hair grew out of it. His arms and legs were changing, his face seemed to deform. His ears became pointy, he grew a tail. His auditory, visual perception as well as his olfaction refined although David noticed that he couldn't perceive anything red anymore. He had became a cat.

David looked around. The two girls also had changed. Where Christina had just been standing, a little sparrow was looking around. And instead of Sarah, a viper was now snaking about.

"Right. Let's check the signs, shall we?" Pilliwickle said. He bent down to David, a quill and parchment beside him ready to record.

"David Reed: cat. Identifying mark: scar on the right paw."

He went to Christina.

"Christina Haywood: sparrow. Identifying mark: heterochromia, right eye green, left eye blue."

He moved on.

"Sarah Selwyn: viper. Identifying mark: missing of a lower tooth."

Mr. Pilliwickle stepped back.

"Please change back."

They did as they were asked.

"Congratulations! You have passed your test."

* * *

David looked at his right hand. The Murtlap Essence had healed the bite wounds of the Fanged Geranium. The other wound which presented itself as an ugly scar on both sides of his hand of course still remained. David sighed.

He left Flitwick's office and returned to the common room. Alex and Jared were already waiting for him.

"And, how was it?" Alex asked.

"Fine Fine..." David said. "I have good marks..."

"Well, that's an understatement." Jared grinned.

"The only problem is that I don't know what I want to do. I think I'd first like to see the world."

He looked at Alex who had a bright smile on her face.

"Oh yes. Just go away somewhere. See what's out there!" There was a lust for adventure, excitement and joy in her voice.

"Just like we always imagined ourselves, remember?" David added. "On the playground when we were little. We and Eve used to play that game of travelling around the world. Seeing magical places."

"But would that be possible? Eve will have one more year to go when we're finished."

David musingly tilted his head.

"What about you, Jared?" Alex asked patting him on the shoulder.

Jared sighed. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry...I just think there is another path waiting for me. My visions are getting clearer. Stronger."

Jared stared into the air seemingly seeing something the others couldn't. For a moment, David really wanted to use Legilimency on him.

"Really?" Alex asked. "Can you cope with that?"

"Yes, I think so." Jared replied. "Is is sometimes difficult to interpret the signs, they...leave room for interpretation."

 _Well, that was obvious_ , David thought.

"I think I want to apply for a post at the Department of Mysteries."

"You want to become an Unspeakable?" David asked perplexed.

Jared slowly nodded.

"Well, I, for one, would like to work either in the Department of International Magical Cooperation or in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Alex said. "But I'm not sure yet..."

She seemed to be pondering.

"Perhaps I'll go to Germany. A lot has to be done there, now that Thomas Reischer is in power. Two years already! It is said that he's constantly having contact to pure-blood families, the bad sort at that. The Rein family, the houses of Adalbert, Grausam, Hugenbert, Waldemar, Degenhard. All those who had shown sympathies for Grindelwald and his cause. When Voldemort had taken over the ministry, some of those families had actually tried to form ties to Death Eaters."

"Do you think that the situation could become worse?" David asked.

"Well," Alex replied, "the German wizarding community has made great steps since 1959 to deal with the past. Grindelwald's sign and his slogan are illegal. But a lot more needs to be done. However, there is more and more criticism coming from the Ministers at state level. Helga Willumeit for instance, Minister for Magic of Mecklenburg or Benedikt Böhm, Minister for Magic of Cologne. And then there's this young new Wizarding Consul of Lübeck, what's her name again...Aylin Yıldırım. She has been the strongest opposition to Reischer and had to endure a lot of slander, mainly because she's Muggle-born."

David sighed.

"Looks like the world's not ready yet for a reunification between both sides."

"Oh, I think it could come quicker than you think." Alex said.

* * *

The atmosphere inside the Three Broomsticks was jovial, especially among the fifth and seventh years. Finally the exams were over. David, Christina, Alex and Jared sat together at a table.

"Cheers!" they brightly exclaimed hitting their mugs together.

"Ah, finally." David said. "We're N.E.W.T. students now."

"Not yet." Alex reminded him.

"Ah, tut! The four of us made it." David replied.

Silently, they drank their Butterbeer. Then Christina spoke.

"So, do you know what you want to do after school?"

"Not quite." David answered.

"We thought we'll first travel the world a bit." Alex remarked.

"Oh really? Because of this whole reunification thing?" Christina replied.

"I'm sorry?" David asked.

"Well, that's the story right now, isn't it? Everyone talks about that ever since you've written that book of yours, David."

David chuckled somewhat sarcastically.

"Yeah, the book. The _shattering book_ of David Reed. As if I had unveiled the big secret with that, for God's sake! They're all playing this up now, Christina, exaggerating, but it was obvious, wasn't it?"

"Well, obviously not." she retorted. "Believe me, you've stirred something up there, quite something, mister...and not _everyone_ likes it." Her look was dead serious.

"Have I now , eh?" David's look had suddenly become gloomy.

" _The daft little child who doesn't know what he is writing about._ " he quoted from one of his hate mail.

"Instead of praising me or insult or threaten me, they better start doing something! Prepare ourselves. Because if we don't, there will be a point when they won't even have time to write _mudblood_ anymore..."


	7. Bring Forth the Living Creature

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 7:** **Bring Forth the Living Creature**

 **London 2013**

David sat there lost in thought, waiting. Waiting until the bus had reached its destination. He was nearly there. Only two stations left. If only he could already apparate! At least they would start the apparition course this year.

The film had been…well. David had expected more from _The Wolverine_. When would they ever have the courage to make a really good _Wolverine_ film? Alex hadn't come along, she didn't like comicbook movies. Not even the _X-Men_ films, even though there were some similarities with the situations wizards found themselves in. There was even a school to practice special powers.

The bus stopped at the next station. Then loud voices pulled David out of his thoughts as the bus started moving again. He looked to his right. The two young men who had just boarded the bus were now stopping next to a young woman wearing a hijab.

"Get out. Get going!" one man shouted.

The woman didn't react pretending not to hear the man.

"This is our country, we are _British_ , move your arse!"

David stood up. Slowly went towards the men. He noticed a strongly built young chap also rising up. Something of the way he stood made David think of a soldier. Meanwhile the two tormentors came closer to the woman. David had his wand in his pocket but he wasn't allowed to use it yet.

"Oi!" he shouted to the men, "leave that lady alone!"

The tormentors looked up.

"Oh, so we're supporting an assassin now, eh?" one of them asked. Pointing to the young Muslim girl, he looked at the other passengers.

"Do you want this girl to blow up this bus?"

David came closer to the men.

"Oh, he wants to protect his girlfriend, how sweet." The other tormentor scoffed. "Let's see how quick he is."

Stretching out both of his arms, he grabbed the young woman. David rushed forward but the first tormentor crossed his path. David now stretched out his arm and, not quite touching the man, made a quick subtle movement with his fingers. As though the man had just been hit, he stumbled and fell to the floor. The second tormentor who had by now pulled a knife out his pocket let go of the young woman and instead pointed his knife at David who dodged. The steady built soldier now approached the scene grabbing the man's hand that held the knife. Within a few seconds the second tormentor lay on the floor.

* * *

At Waterloo Station everyone got out. David and his unknown helper towed the two tormentors out with them. A police car was already awaiting them.

The young woman approached David thanking him.

"Don't mention it." David said smiling. "Anytime."

"How did you do that by the way?" The soldier asked while they were walking through the station. "You didn't touch that guy once."

David chuckled.

"Ah, you've imagined things."

The soldier looked at him a tiny bit sceptical.

"Listen, I've got to go. Train's leaving." David said getting into a run. As he approached his train, he heard the man calling out to him.

"It was almost as if you've used magic!"

David turned around one more time.

"If you wanna believe that, by all means do it." He called by kindly.

* * *

After a long ride David finally walked along the street to his house. The sun was nearly gone. He had almost reached the door when it opened and, to his surprise, Alex appeared running towards him holding a letter.

David stopped short. She reached him and flung her arms around him.

"Hi." She said breathlessly. "Had just been at your place. Been waiting for you. You've got a letter a few minutes ago. From the ministry." She held out the letter. Frowning, David took it and opened it. He knew exactly what it said.

 _Dear Mr. Reed,_

 _We have received intelligence that at twenty minutes past nine this evening you have used a Trip Jinx in the City of London. As you know, under age wizards are not permitted to perform spells in a Muggle area, and further spell work on your part may lead to expulsion from said school (Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery, 1875, Paragraph C). We would also ask you to remember that any magical activity that risks notice by members of the non-magical community (Muggles) is a serious offence under section 13 of the International Confederation of Warlocks' Statute of Secrecy._

 _Enjoy your holidays! Yours sincerely,_

 _Christopher Perkins_

 _Improper Use of Magic Office_

 _Ministry of Magic_

David had finished the letter. Alex looked at him incredulously.

"Seriously?" she asked.

David sighed.

"I've helped a young woman, a Muslim, who had been harassed by two men. They'd nearly gone physical, Alex! I had to step in."

He looked at the letter shaking his head.

"It wasn't even that obvious, just a little shove, I didn't even use my wand."

He looked into her face. A little grin had formed there.

"You don't care at all about this letter, do you?"

He nodded.

"I would do it again. You?"

"Definitely!"

David smiled.

* * *

They had nice weather on Sunday; quite warm weather to be precise. David and Alex used this to go on a small bike ride with their long-time Muggle friend Eve. They rode through the nearby forest and, on their way back, reached the playground they had visited so frequently as kids. It was a special place for the three of them.

It was here that Eve had first witnessed magic. Having climbed up a gigantic oak tree, Eve had slipped and had started to fall down. It was only thanks to David stretching out his hand and slowing her fall that she survived.

* * *

David and Alex spend the evening at her place. Her parents hadn't hold back and enlarged virtually every room in the house including the hallway. Apart from the sitting room, Alex's room was the biggest. Twice as big as David's room. The two of them were cuddling on her bed watching _The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers_ , partly for fun and partly for homework. In preparation for their new topic in Muggle Studies: The Depiction of Magic in Muggle Media. Each one of them had to choose a story. Alex had chosen _The Lord of the Rings_ and David had chosen _Game of Thrones_ , the popular TV Series that was now having its fourth season. Both of them loved to read Muggle fantasy literature and watching films and series. So they were already familiar with the topic. And apart from that, both of them as well as a Half-blood student named Heather Bishop were the only ones in class to have Muggle Media at home. Heather for her part had chosen the book _The Witches_ and its film adaptation, a story that made any wizard choke and vomit for the depiction and stereotypes presented.

"How do you think the Muggles would imagine us if we were to reveal ourselves?" Alex mused. "Perhaps they think we'd have such phenomenal powers as Gandalf…that we are human gods."

"Hm…" David merely said. He had to think of the reaction of the readers of his book last year. Apparently it had hit like a bomb. He hadn't imagined such a harsh debate on the subject.

"Oh, right. Sorry." Alex said quietly. She looked at him with her brown eyes.

"You know, I really didn't think Christina would be against revealing ourselves."

David moaned. "Urrgh, I think she doesn't like how the situation has developed. Perhaps she's thinking it was my fault. Anyway, it will only be a question of time…whenever it will come…"

Now he was looking into her eyes.

"And who are you with at the moment? Granville? I thought there was something going on between you two…"

Alex sighed.

"Nah, there was nothing between us…apart from the sex, he's not that bad. But other than that we didn't go along well…" She looked pensively at the screen where the end credits were now rolling. Alex went up and turned off her laptop. Coming back to bed, she said:

"Maybe I'm just not the type for a long relationship, I don't know. With Abigail it's quite well at the moment. I often visit her."

"Yeah, I've noticed. Do you even have Floo powder left?" he grinned.

She rolled her eyes but laughed nonetheless. She touched David's cheek with her hand.

Then her lips met his. David quickly blinked but didn't break the kiss. She let go, grinned a bit sheepishly. David looked at her.

"You taste nice." she whispered. David raised his eyebrows.

"Not the type for long relationships, eh?" he asked smiling.

"Well, I love to try new things." she retorted.

They kissed again, touching each other. They came closer and not just with their lips…

The next day sent warm rays of sunlight through the window waking the two. It was the warmest summer in years. David was almost always sleeping with minimal clothing. Now he had slept naked for the first time. And he was not alone in this regard. Alex smiled moving her hand to his lips and went down from there. David moaned when she reached her destination.

She giggled then rose up. David gazed at her well matured body while she opened the window. Beaming widely at him, Alex threw herself back to bed and they cuddled.

"You're good!" she whispered.

"But you're more experienced." he grinned.

"M-hm." she made, stroking him. Both of them knew what this had been. They knew each other since they could remember. But they didn't love each other in this particular way and they didn't mind that. They had merely tried something. But it had been worth it. Totally.

* * *

 **Hogwarts**

The first day at school this year was interesting. They started with Ancient Runes where they finally read the writings of the Hogwarts founders in their original language, Old English and written in runes. David meanwhile had developed a liking for languages and loved to go through the shelves of the library looking for old works in Latin, Old English, Old Norse or Gaelic languages.

In Potions, they started with the Draught of Living Death, a highly powerful sleeping potion. David managed to brew the best potion and thus winning a bottle of Felix Felicis from Professor Slughorn who had done this little contest before. As of now, David still hadn't used the bottle. He wanted to keep it, not for himself, but for others at a time of great need.

* * *

David was especially curious about Transfiguration. Finally they started with what he had been waiting for two years: Conjuring and Human Transfiguration, quite a challenge. At first they were to conjure up a bench, then chairs, tables, flowers and, lastly, living animals. At the end of one class, David and Alex went out of the classroom followed by a swarm of little yellow bird circling around their heads. Next they had to change the colour of their own eyebrow. They would gradually feel their way into this field of transfiguration and in their last year they would start to transfigure whole parts of their bodies.

They also had several free periods now which were however not for relaxation but for further studies and learning as their lessons were now becoming ever so difficult.

David and Alex spent practically all of their time together planning their world tour except when Alex had a date with Abigail. This Christmas, Alex gave David a tent she had found at Diagon Alley that was bigger on the inside. David used his new skills to decorate the interior of the tent: a kitchen, a sitting room with a fireplace, a small library and a filing cabinet and a green house. But he also added an upper floor with bedrooms and a bathroom.

It was important to David and Alex to visit other regions and countries to get to know the local magic and cultures as well as their history. Alex already had some experience in Brazil and what she had experienced there had shaped her deeply. Her girlfriend at the time, Ana de Sá (her first relationship), had shown her the life of indigenous peoples around the area of Castelobruxo seeking refuge from ruthless Muggles. A whole section of the painful history of indigenous peoples filled the library of Castelobruxo.

After Christmas, great news reached them: they would finally learn to apparate! The apparition exam would be after the Easter holidays. This was great since David and Alex had something fantastic planned during that time…

* * *

David had always been a passionate Quidditch player. Just last year, Ravenclaw had won the Quidditch cup for the first time in decades! Now Alex's parents had managed to get tickets for the World Cup this year, first for the opening ceremony and then for the final in the summer.

David couldn't wait to visit the Ministry of Magic. As of now he had only seen pictures of it in articles about the reformation of the ministry. He and Alex appeared in one of the fireplaces in the Atrium after her parents had landed. In aw he gazed up at the war memorial, which had replaced the monument erected during the time of Voldemort's reign, showing a couple of suffering witches and wizards as well as some goblins who also had to suffer and a stone wall with the names of all the victims of the war. David lightened a candle and conjured a wreath and laid it to the others.

The head of the Department of Magical Transportation Percy Weasley welcomed them and put their names on a list. David had the feeling the Mr. Weasley wanted to made sure personally that everything went smoothly.

* * *

 **Patagonian Desert, Argentina**

The stadium had been built right in the middle of the desert, far away from any Muggle civilisation. David, Alex and her parents put up their tent on a designated spot. The family tent of the Brandt family had originally belonged to Mr. Brandt's grandfather, Alex's great-grandfather. It had the shape of a small manor house on the outside and the impression increased once you visited the inside which had more than three floors and was utterly gigantic!

The stadium was enormous. The Brandts had tickets for one of the Top Boxes. Here, David met other member of the British Ministry of Magic such as the Minister for Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt himself. He first greeted Mr. and Mrs. Brandt, then Alex and finally David.

"Mr. Reed, nice to meet you. You've seemed to have shaken up the wizarding community lately." His voice was deep, calm, reassuring and kind.

David looked a bit embarrassed by that statement. "Well, I do believe that this subject will become important in the next few years, sir."

"Indeed, I agree with you on that." The British minister said. "I have a little experience with computers myself."

"Oh, really?" David said interested.

"I used to guard the Prime Minister during my time as an Auror." Shacklebolt explained. "And as Minister for Magic, I believe it is important to observe what is happening in the Muggle World as long as we are hiding ourselves from it."

David pondered on the minister's words for a while. Could it be that the ministry was actually planning to consider the possibility of coming out of hiding? He looked around in the box to see who else was here. He saw several Ministers for Magic from other countries and recognised some: Thomas Reischer, the German Federal Minister for Magic who was watching the Brandts with a disdainful look. And Samuel G. Quahog, the Pesident of the Magical Congress of the United States of America. Yet David didn't spot Julia anywhere. He was sure that she would go to such an occasion. Perhaps she was leading an investigation.

The teams showed their mascots. A small lake had been made in the field for this occasion as the teams of Norway and Fiji had brought aquatic creatures with them.

"Are they planning to let them tear each other apart or what?" Mr. Brandt asked who was looking through his Omnioculars. "Or are they just mad?"

"Why, what's going on down there?" Alex asked her father looking through her own omnioculars. David did as well.

He could see the Selma, a gigantic serpent swimming along the Dukuwaqa that somewhat resembled a shark. Another mascot was a strange creature known as a Sasabonsam that had sharp iron teeth and a very ugly face.

Then Mr. Brandt rose up in his seat looking incredulous.

"They wouldn't dare!" he exclaimed.

The Haitian team had just entered the stadium and their mascots, a dozen very thin people looking like they were…decomposing. Inferi!

At that moment there was a loud splash in the lake. The Selma and the Dukuwaqa seemed to be at each other's throats. Handlers rushed over to separate the creatures while the men and women of the different teams had backed away in alarm. Suddenly there was a horrible scream as one of the handlers was pulled by his leg into the lake. Panicking, he quickly turned his body and was gone apart from his left leg which still hung in the Selma's mouth. The lake was red. Within mere seconds though, the handler had reappeared a couple of meters further screaming his lungs out. Mediwizards came across the field to help the injured man but they were stopped by the Sasabonsam whose chains rattled as it ran along roaring at the Mediwizards.

Meanwhile the Inferi had spread through the stadium and were climbing the seats. Aurors had appeared in the stadium urging the people to leave. But the panicking spectators didn't even though of disapparating but were just running, hurrying away from the Inferi. Screams of pain could be heard as the Inferi began to bite and devour people who had tripped.

In the Top Box, Ministers began to disapparate. David felt Mrs. Brandt grabbing his hand and then he felt as though he would be squashed. They had disapparated and were now reappearing at the camp site. Panic was all around them. Quickly Mr. and Mrs. Brandt made the tent packing itself into a rucksack as the Inferi crawled out from under the stadium!

"Stay together!" Mr Brandt shouted. Together they ran and ran. They could see the arrival point where they had landed with the Portkey. Mr. Brandt summoned an old football and said " _Portus!_ " David, Alex, Mr and Mrs. Brandt touched the ball and they were off.

In a giddy spin they moved and then they crashed onto the carpet in the Brandt's sitting room. Groaning they rose to their feet.

"Well," Alex gasped breathlessly although still grinning. "That may actually be the shortest Quidditch match in history." David joined in on her laughter.

"Let's just hope they will improve security next time and choose other mascots." Mrs. Brandt said.

* * *

 **Hogwarts**

On May 7 2014 David woke up and the first thing he saw was Alex beaming widely at him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!" she greeted him cheekily. "Happy birthday!"

"Urrrgh…thank you!" David muttered in a hoarse voice.

She held a present under his nose. David shook his head and stood up still dozily and toddled forward.

"I first have to shower…" he murmured.

"Shall I accompany you?" Alex grinned.

"Lovely idea…" David said looking at her with half a smile. "But I think I can manage."

Freshly showered and in the common room (they had a free period), David opened his presents, first the one Alex had given him. He tore off the paper and a globe came out. A glass globe in which there apparently was an image of the Milky Way.

David stared in awe at the globe.

"Thank you, Alex!" he said astounded.

"I thought I'd give you something concerning Astronomy. But look, this thing can do stuff."

Alex laid two fingers on the globe and made a movement. The model of the galaxy became larger within the globe until finally a solar system with nine planets came into view.

"Where did you get that?" David wondered.

"At Wiseacre's Wizarding Equipment." Alex replied.

David looked at the globe. How could wizards have such a great knowledge of the entire Milky Way?

* * *

David, Alex and Jared were exiting the house in Hogsmeade where they and other sixth years had had their Apparition exams. David saw Christina among them but she looked demonstratively away and transfigured herself into a sparrow.

"Phew! Damn, I was close to failure!" Jared reckoned.

"Thankfully we passed." Alex said. "A pity that we're not allowed to apparate earlier. My cousin Ida told me you can apparate in Denmark at the age of 14!"

"14?" asked David.

Alex nodded.

The three of them went up to the castle. Back in the common room they prepared to do their homework.

"So how's Divination going?" David asked Jared.

"Oh, it's brilliant." Jared replied.

"Last hour we ha–"

He broke off staring straight ahead. His gaze was blank.

David frowned and Alex looked up from her homework.

"Jared? Jared, say something!" she cried.

Jared's eyes widened.

"Oh…god!" he burst out. There was fear in his eyes.

"What do you see?" David asked. At this moment, Jared grabbed David's shoulder. His mouth widened as if he had trouble to breath. And then he spoke and his voice was not his own, it was high pitched and somewhat…bare.

 _Worlds collide_

 _And open wide_

 _The Tree will fall_

 _And drown will all._

David looked to Alex who looked back with big, frightened eyes…


	8. The Last Year

**From Hogwarts With Love**

I do not own Harry Potter. Or J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World for that matter.

 **Chapter 8:** **The Last Year**

 **Patagonian Desert, Argentina, Summer 2014**

Security had been increased massively since the disaster at the opening ceremony in April. The stadium was full and the noise was deafening. David and Alex sat with her parents in VIP Box Two along with other prominent personalities most of whom were veterans of the Battle of Hogwarts who had fought as "Dumbledore's Army" against Voldemort's influence at Hogwarts. Next to David and Alex, the Potter family was sitting all of them, except for one of the boys, were wearing red for Bulgaria.

A loud roar emerged from the people sitting in the stadium when the gates were opened revealing the team mascots. The Bulgarians had brought Veela. Their splendid, wonderful and hot bodies with their delicate faces moved elegantly along the field to the music. Just how could they be so marvellous and fabulous, how could they be of this world? David had to concentrate at the sight of these Amazon-like beauties. Vaguely, he noticed that Alex too was gawking at the Veela with open-mouthed. Sitting to close beside her, he felt her right arms reaching down and her body jerking with joy having a hunch what was happening to her.

Then the Curupira from Brazil appeared with their usual hoaxes. Finally, both species formed a sort of pyramid. Under thunderous applause, the two teams arrived on the field, Brazil in green, Bulgaria in red.

And then they were in the air! The Brazilians had a good start. At least they were in possession of the Quaffle but could get past the Bulgarian beaters. Then Bulgarian Chaser Levski managed to get hold of the Quaffle, yet only for a short time because right in front of the goal she was hit right in the throat by a Bludger! The crowd groaned, even the Brazilian fans. David leaned forward watching Levski through his Omnioculas. She lurched onward coughing and breathing long, deep breaths.

By minute 37 the Brazilians made their first goal. David put down his Omnioculars disappointedly. He, Alex and her parents were for Bulgaria, especially their Seeker, Viktor Krum, who went to school with Alex's parents. The Brazilians managed to shoot more goals and soon it stood 50 to 20 for Brazil. And then –

"The Snitch has been sighted!" came the voice of the commentator and the stadium seemed to explode with excitement. Viktor Krum and the Brazilian Seeker Silva rushed through the stadium towards the Snitch. David saw Alex watching them through her Omnioculars and was sure that she was keen to analyse Krum's tactics. Then the Snitch made a sharp turn and flew upwards. Dazzled by the Argentinean sun, both Seekers lost the Snitch again.

Brazil made another goal. Then the crowd cried out as Krum sank downwards, hit by the bat of one of the opposing Beaters. Watching him through the Omioculas, David could make out blood coming from his nose when he had hit his broom.

A whistle was heard as referee Herman Junker flew to the stand examining different Omniocular footage. The crowd waited anxiously. Then Junker gave a hand sign – no foul! The match continued. Krum, with his nose being healed, got onto his broom again.

And then – David pulled his Omioculars upwards as did the rest of the stadium. Krum and Silva were dashing upwards. Krum was catching up with Silva and they flew next to each other – " _Komm schon!_ " David heard Mr. Brandt roar.

AND KRUM HAD THE SNITCH! A cheer filled the stadium. Wands were aimed in the air and fireworks erupted from them. After two and three-quarter hours, Bulgaria had won 170 to 60! David and Alex fell in each other's arms laughing and jumping up and down like little children.

Krum, laughing and with tears in his eyes, sailed to earth elegantly and Silva landed next to him. He got down from his broom, ran over to Krum and embraced him. The crowd roared so loud that the voice of the commentator could not be heard. Mr. and Mrs. Brandt went ahead (with David and Alex following them) and together with the Potters and the Weasleys arrived in VIP Box One where the Bulgarian Minister for Magic, Mladen Hristov, and Valentina Vázquez, President of the Argentinean Council of Magic welcomed the Bulgarian team and shook their hands.

David, Alex and her parents accompanied Viktor Krum back to the camp site where they celebrated the whole night. It was only on midday the next day when the Brandts and David could catch the next Portkey back to England.

* * *

 **Hogwarts**

"David!"

David turned around. A small first year approached him. It was Hallowe'en and most of the students had gone off to Hogsmeade. David had stayed and so had Alex who currently was in the library. On the one hand, David wanted to study for his NEWT exams, on the other hand he wanted to fulfil his duties as a Head Boy: be there for other students needing help, instruct the Prefects who had stayed – he remembered the train ride this year where he and Catherine Macmillan had explained the duties to the new Prefects. It seemed so long ago when he and Catherine had met each other on the train. And now here they were, being Head boy and Head Girl.

David bent down to the little girl. She had black hair, a snub nose and brown eyes. Katie Chang looked very much like her mother. He had seen pictures of Cho Chang, one of the many veterans of the Battle of Hogwarts and reporter for the _Daily Prophet_ , where she wrote about international wizarding events as well as Muggle culture. She was married to a Muggle herself and her articles, which David loved to read, showed her view on re-approaching Muggles again in this new century.

"How can I help you, Katie?" David asked with a kind smile. She had talked to him several times since they met in the Great Hall after she had been sorted into Ravenclaw.

"I – I'm having difficulties with the Levitation Charm," she said.

David raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Why don't you show me?"

Katie pulled out her wand and pointed it at a set of books on the nearest table.

David stood beside her and let his mind wander through her emotions.

"You're not having difficulties at all," he said. "You're stressing yourself. You let nervousness get the better of you. It's blocking you concentration. You know the goal, you know the way. Just concentrate on that."

She looked at him.

"That's easy for you to say! You don't even need a wand to do magic."

Still David was smiling.

"The wand is merely a tool as is the incantation. The real magic lies not within words or wandwoods but within yourself. Whether you use your hands and mind or wand and words, the key is always intent and focus. Picture what you want to do. The rest is merely reciting the incantation and the movement."

The whole common room had started to listen once David had pulled out his wand, positioned himself and started instructing the little girl. Katie closed her eyes and breathed calmly. Then she opened her eyes again and made the movement, a swish and flick, along with the words: " _Wingardium Leviosa!_ "

The books hovered a few centimetres into the air and, guided by Katie's wand, moved slowly to the next table where they settled themselves down again. The whole room applauded including David who beamed at Katie.

"Well done!"

Katie smiled.

"You're a good teacher, David!"

David's expression turned serious and sceptical for just a second before smiling again.

"Thank you."

* * *

Lessons were starting to get as exciting and as difficult as never before. They were finally fully engaging into Human Transfiguration! It had fascinated David as soon as he heard about it and was one if the reasons he wanted to become an Animagus. They had the task of changing their faces to resemble that of their partners. David was the first in class to get it right and Alex was now staring into her own face sort of plucked onto David's body.

"How do I look?" David asked with a cheeky grin that so resembled hers.

"Urgh, it's weird hearing myself with your voice!" she remarked.

* * *

When they were not having classes and when they didn't study for their NEWT exams, David and Alex were busy with preparing for their tour around the world. That meant, aside from preparing what they wanted to take with them, a bureaucratic dread with the different wizarding authorities as they needed to schedule every stay in various countries and their intentions. All to keep even the slightest chance of Muggles detecting any form of magic. What David and Alex kept to themselves however was that they planned to actually take a Muggle with them: they had decided to ask their long-time friend Eve Williams whether she liked to go with them. All the time they had to avoid showing her the magic they always told her about. Now she should have the chance of her lifetime and experience the full beauty of it. And as they wanted to focus their travels on studying the regional relationships of wizards and Muggles, Eve could also provide them with inside and skills the two of them did not have.

In classes meanwhile, they were now so used to non-verbal magic that nobody tended to speak their incantations out loud anymore such as in Charms where they practised the Protean Charm or the Disillusionment Charm. They atmosphere was now truly that of accomplished witches and wizards at the height of their game – one that would end soon as by the end, most of them would likely leave Hogwarts forever if they didn't come back as teachers at some point.

And so David and Alex immersed themselves in every moment they had left: when the next Hogsmeade trip came around at Christmas, they didn't skip it and bought as much as they could from the shops, especially from the local branch of _Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes_ where they bought useful things for their journey. When they played Quidditch, they gave their best performances and managed to again win the Quidditch Cup.

David also enjoyed taking walks over the school grounds and as a Head Boy he was allowed to stay up longer than any other student and even patrol the corridors at night. And so he sat there one evening on the marble staircase in the Entrance Hall after most students had gone to bed and only prefects went to and fro the corridors.

"David, my boy, still up I see!"

He looked up and saw Professor Slughorn emerge from the dungeon corridor carrying his teaching equipment. David rose to his feet.

"Yes, sir. I was merely lost in thought, sir."

Professor Slughorn came up to him and sat down with him on the stairs. Both of them watched the last red rays of sunlight through the upper windows.

"I must say, your Veritaserum was the best I have seen in a long time, David," Slughorn said after a while. "I'd say you have great chances at the NEWT exams."

"Thanks, sir," David said.

"There are many promising talents this year in fact. But you, my boy, are the best."

David grinned.

"I imagine you have thought about our possible careers for quite a while."

"Hm-hm," Slughorn made in agreement.

"I could see you coming back to this school, David. From what I hear you have quite a teaching talent."

David smiled but shook his head.

"I'm not sure whether I belong behind a desk, sir. Not yet anyway. There is a world out there, professor. Alex and I can't wait to explore it. And I need to get to know it; I need to gain much more knowledge before I even think of settling down here."

"Well, your knowledge of Muggle culture and technology is very impressive. And I'm sure that makes you a much wanted candidate for either Hogwarts or the Ministry."

David nodded. "I have been getting mail from the ministry. After I released my book, many people from the ministry actually sought my advice. As if there weren't any other Muggle-borns around!"

"Well," Slughorn said, "I'm sure whatever path you choose, you will not disappoint."

* * *

Finally it was time to put all their magical knowledge to the test, literally, as the NEWT exams were approaching. As before with the OWLs, David noticed that his fellow students were getting a bit nervous. To be true, he was too…a little. But he had long ago learned that nervousness wouldn't lead to anything other than potential weak results. Together with Alex and Jared he recited everything they believed to be important, practised spells and theoretical knowledge.

Then came the day. Monday. The first week.

David focused on the questions on the sheet, shutting himself off from everything else; let no distraction come to him. He knew that there were other students who would sometimes nervously look around to see how the others were doing. The first exam was in charms and David could recollect the facts easily as he wrote down the wand movement for the Summoning Charm or the effects of the Freezing Charm. The practical exam worked well for him as well as he showed his examiner the Water-Making-Spell and the Disillusionment Charm among other things.

The next day had Transfiguration, David's favourite subject. From Cross-Species Switches and Vanishing Spells in the written exam to conjuring chairs, flowers, birds and transfigure parts of the face such as nose and eyes, David felt that he was in his element. He was even more cheerful when his examiner asked him to perform the transfiguration into his Animagus form as a bonus!

Wednesday followed with David's third favourite subject: Herbology. Alex was particularly looking forward to this as it was her favourite subject and the one she was best at. David also did quite well as he handled plants such as the Venomous Tentacula.

In the written exam for Defence Against the Dark Arts on Thurday, they answered questions to Vampires, Dementors and the Imperius Curse and showed off their skills in Defensive Spells. It was the practical exams that David enjoyed most since it seemed less like an exam (well, as a Muggle would perhaps define it) but more like a fun exercise, at least to him and Alex.

But he also fairly enjoyed the exam on Ancient Runes where they had to translate vocabulary, fill out the blanks of a text and write one themselves in Old English and in Runes.

The weekend was a bit of a relaxation but still not really as they had to prepare themselves for the second week.

On Monday, they had David's second favourite subject which was potions. Answering questions on the use of Ashwinder Eggs, the effects of Armortentia or Felix Felicis wasn't hard for him and he was particularly looking forward to the practical exam. They had to bew an Elixir to Induce Euphoria and David felt that, along with Transfiguration, he could bet that here he had also achieved 'Outstanding'.

For him there were only two subject remaining: in Care of Magical Creatures, they had to show how to care for a Unicorn, heal salamanders who had scale rot, feed a Streeler and clean the house of a Fire Crab.

Then there was only Thursday: History of Magic. They wrote about magical prehistory, the rise and fall of Gellert Grindelwald and his objective. The new laws by the Ministry of Magic under Voldemort's regime; the circumstances leading to the abolishment of Rappaport's Law in the United States; witch burnings; breaches of the Statute of Secrecy in 19th-century Africa; Secret Operations by Ministries of Magic in divided countries such as Germany, Vietnam and Korea.

* * *

There were many lasts these few days. The last trip to Hogsmeade; the last visit to Honeydukes and buying for yourself and your friends and family all those delicious magical sweets; the last Butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks; Then there would be the last end-of-year feast, the last night at Hogwarts, the last ride on the Hogwarts Express...

These were the thoughts waving through David's mind as he sat at a table in the Three Broomsticks along with Alex, Jared and Catherine. Talking about what was to come.

He had spend all year thinking about those moments. And now here they were. Gone so fast. Lost in a moment. Their surprise and joy when Ravenclaw had won the house-Cup this year, the last chance they would have. Him embracing Katie Chang who surely had done her contribution for this event. Her first year and already she had experienced something like that. David would miss her. Six years was a long time. Perhaps they would meet again. For a moment, David seriously considered taking on a teaching position. There was plenty to choose from. And Professor Robinson had indicated that she wouldn't teach for much longer. Professor Wilkinson too was considering whether he should stay in England.

* * *

It was a lovely morning. A thin line of mist covered the lake as they waited for Hagrid to bring them over the waters. The first years were taken back like they had been brought here at the beginning and the seventh years were taking the boats one last time as well. And when they cast off, David turned his head and watched the magnificent ancient castle becoming smaller and a tear formed in his eye. This was more than going to school. This had been home! One of his two homes. Where did he belong to? And what would become of his two homes once they'd meet again? Because they would, it was inevitable. And they would need to prepare for that. David looked at Alex and they gazed at each other. A world was leaving them. They were leaving it. But another, even bigger world was waiting for them!


End file.
